As Studios Shift to Digital Distribution, Theaters Struggle to Pay for Upgrades; A Bake Sale in Berwick

When Renee DiAugustine-Bower's grandfather died in 2013, she took over the one-screen movie theater he'd operated in their small Pennsylvania town for decades. She also inherited a looming need to shell out $60,000 for new technology or be forced to close the theater's doors.

Hollywood's major studios are in the final days of distributing movies on film reels and moving to digital distribution sent via hard drives or satellite, a method that is cheaper for studios but requires significant investment by theaters in new...